If you’ve been following along, you might be wondering why this story differs from last week’s gospel. Last week Andrew follows Jesus after John the Baptist declares that Jesus is the Lamb of God and Peter follows because Andrew goes and tells him that they’ve found the Messiah. But here we hear the classic story of Jesus calling fisherman, who drop everything, and follow Jesus. Well, which story is the right story? In seminary we study the differences between the gospels, we learn about the authors of the gospels and the audience, and we learn what prompted the gospel to be written. In one of my favorite examples a professor placed something in the middle of the room and asked us what we saw. We all saw the image from our own angle. The professor then asked us how we would tell someone what we had scene; all of us would tell the story our own way. Lastly, we were asked how we would share our story depending on who we were talking to. Would we tell the story different to a kid vs someone who is advanced in years? I hope you get the idea. We all saw the same thing but we saw it from our own perspective and we would talk about it in our own way. This is the same way we understand the four different gospels. They all had their own experience of Jesus, or the experience that was handed down to them, and they told it their own way. This isnt a case of which account is correct, instead we have four different accounts of Jesus. This isn’t a detriment to the Christian faith, rather a variety of perspectives and emphasis.

We’ve been talking a lot about John the Baptist for the past few weeks. John fits in well with the season of Epiphany because his role is to reveal Jesus, something we celebrate this season. As John has been arrested Jesus now takes center stage. How do you understand Jesus’ act of withdrawing? Does Jesus so this so that he also isnt arrested? One benefit of this relocation is it fulfills an Old Testament prophecy.

Do you like Jesus’ message? Repent. This message is similar to John’s. John also talked about repentance but now with Jesus taking the lead, the kingdom is very much at hand. But we there may be something lost in translation from when Jesus first said this to how repentance is proclaimed today.

I think these call stories are one of the stories we learn early on in Sunday school. They paint a vivid picture that we can envision as kids. I like the idea that they were watching Jesus and hoping that he would call them. They were hoping that Jesus would invite them to follow him. But I also put myself in that moment and wonder how I would respond if Jesus called me. Would I drop everything and follow Jesus?

The last verse speaks so well to Jesus’ impact and power. He goes everywhere, curing every illness and sickness. But also notice where he teaches, Jesus is in the synagogue and not the temple. Most likely Jesus travels to the temple every year for the Passover and it will be his final Passover where he is betrayed, arrested, and killed. Until then, Jesus is among the commoners of Galilee teaching, proclaiming and healing. Jesus seems to have an affinity for those who may have been overlooked by the temple in Jerusalem.